The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-15

Il
| ''Read it, Maria, read itl''
(! Maria, who, like most New England serv
ants, was as well born and as accomplished
as her mistress. took the document, anc
read:
Miss Elizabeth Perkins:
DEAR MADAM: / write TO tell you that you
brother George died here at seven o'clock yes
terday evening, leaving young daughter seven
teen years of age. Miss Perkins is. fear
almost without means. It was her father wish
that she should go to You. Sne VIII leave mere,
therefore, after the funeral, and arrive IN Amer
lea in two weeks time. The young lady is over
whelmed with grief and write in her stead.
Most sincerely yours,
MARTHA ROBINSON.
PENSION ABEnT1, Siena, Italy.
The letter WAS dated March ID. 1t was
now the 1st of April Nay Perkins would
be here, then, in few days.
"If any thing had ever happened to me
before" +" sighed Miss Betty. ''If any thing g
had ever happened beforer" Then she
turned to Maria.
''What shall we do, Maria, what ShcH we
dol'
Maria must have been some relation to
Mr. Dick, for she Immediately replied:
'Clean house"
This practical turn certainly gave great
relief to Miss Betty's mind. 1t was some
thing to do, and action would, better than
any thing else, relieve the tension of her
nerves.
Within twenty four hours the house was
overturned-that is, not the building itself,
but its contents. Curtains came down,
carpets sprang up, chairs located them
selves on tables, women armed with pals
appeared, men with whitewash brushes
followed. Miss Betty directed and Maria
acted as aide-de-camp. Confusion reigned
everywhere. From peace and order there
was relapse back into original chaos.
1t was when things were at their worst
that Miss Betty stood gazing out of an
upper window. Her glance fell on the mill
dam just above the house.
''How set father always was!" she mused
to herself. "Eow he always said there
wasn't any danger from that daml Every
body told him it would give way, and wash
US all cut some day, but he wouldn't pay
any attention. It's lucky he isn't here
now" her mind passing to more important
matters. "What would he do with a
strange young girl in the housed He never
could get along with young people, any
way" Miss Betty sighed. How should
she get along?
The household had not more than settled
back into its normal condition when, one
day, the village carry-all drove up, and out
of it stepped blooming damsel of seven
teen. She was followed by middle-aged
man, and by seven trunks. Miss Perkins
might be penniless, but she had a wardrobe.
"Ohl Aunt Betty, how do you do!"
1t was pleasant to feel that blooming
cheek pressed to hers, and to know that
this new conner was her own kith and kin.
Miss May Perkins turned to the gentle
man at her side.
"Aunt Betty, this is Mr. Mcintosh"
Poor Miss Betty! Had not enough hap
pened without this! In moment she rec
ognized the lover Of her youth. OF course
she did. What woman would not? But it
was hard to have him come in the way-to
come in the train of this blooming damsel
with her bright youth to act as a contrast
to her aunt's faded features and tremulous
middle age.
There Is no use in discussing the matter.
Women will cling to the romance of their
lives. Is there faded spinster any where
who does not fondly recollect some hour
when the world seemed glorious place
and the future full of bliss, simply because
some specimen of the other sex has looked
fondly into her eyesl If so, Miss Betty
was not the one.
/ am not going to betray the number of
hours that Miss Betty had spent dreaming
over the possible return of John Mcintosh.
He might come in this way, he might come
in that. He might be old and gray, and
feeble and infirm, in which case she would
see him just as he was in youth, and in old
age they would renew the romance Of their
early days. He might come with a wife
and family of children; in which case she
would be the particular friend of the woman
who had supplanted her, and the maiden
aunt to all the little folk. But she had not
planned to have him come in the train of
her own niece, and that niece handsome
young woman, with checks like peaches, q.
foreign education, and gown copied from
those that English tourists procure in Paris
o, no, mol Ten thousand times mol
But Miss Betty was genuine New En-
gland woman in the control she exercised
over her own feelings. It was warm well
come she gave the travellers, and neither
of them noticed that her hands were cold,
and her voice trembled the least bit when
she drew them into the house and made
them welcome to all it containted.
o, how much there was to tell! Aunt and
niece had to become acquainted John
sea-going years, and the later ones, when,
after having secured a competence, he de-
termined to explore the land as well as the
sea, and, attracted By the name of Perkins,
had made the acquaintance of May and her
father. When he learned that the latter
was from his own native town, and was in
deed the playmate OF his childhood, moth
ing was wanting TO open the way to warm
D,,4f how, h,1
and death OF George Perkins, and now John
McIutosh had brought his friends daughter
home.
Was there, or was there not, love affair
going on between john Mcintosh and May
Perkinsl This was the question that agi-
tated Miss Betty dav and night
The young girl was all that was frank
and sweet, and devoted to her aunt. She
INDUCED in no foreign airs, she spoke no
strange tongues, her manners with Mr.. Nc
Intosh were free and cordial as with her
fathers friend.
Miss Betty thought the matter over morn
ing and night, and in the watches of the
night. but could come to no conclusion. But
then, why should he not love herl Was
she not young and beautifull Miss Betty
looked at hep own hollow cheeks and
sunken temples, counted the few struggling
ringlets that framed her care-worn face,
and decided that Of course he must be in
love with May.
Why is it that women are always sure
that physical beauty exercises supreme in-
fuence over man! They see enough to
teach them otherwise, but they refuse to
be taught.
The summer passed along, and what q
glorious summer it was! The roses
sloomed, the harvest ripened, the tasseled
corn grew straight and tall John Mcintosh
called nearly every day. At one time ne
brought book. 1T another he nrnnnsad a